B2 – Upper Intermediate
Messy handwriting by doctors has caused worry and public discussion recently. When prescriptions or medical notes are hard to read, it can lead to serious problems like giving the wrong medicine, making mistakes in diagnosis, or slowing down treatment.
Let’s read the article to understand how Punjab and Haryana High Court responded to this issue.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn0r88nrx70o
Vocabulary Questions:
- What does “scrawl” mean? “The BBC has seen a copy of the judgement which includes the report and a two-page prescription which shows the doctor’s unreadable scrawl.” Use it in a sentence and give two synonyms.
- What is the meaning of the phrase “roll out“? “Health authorities in the UK have admitted that “drug errors caused appalling levels of harm and deaths and added that roll out of electronic prescribing systems across more hospitals could reduce errors by 50%.” Use it in a sentence and give two synonyms.
- What does “to bear fruit” mean in this context, “His campaign, seeking a complete ban on handwritten prescriptions, bore fruit when in 2016, the Medical Council of India ordered that “every physician should prescribe drugs with generic names legibly and preferably in capital letters”.? Use it in a sentence and give two synonyms.
Discussion Questions:
- What are your insights of the court’s decision telling doctors to write legibly? Do you think the same should be done in your country?
- Share your thoughts on this: “Legible medical prescription is a fundamental right as it can make a difference between life and death.“
- How important is clarity in medical prescriptions?
- What do you think about including handwriting lessons in the medical school curriculum and set a two-year timeline for rolling out digitised prescriptions?
- Are the doctors in your country also notorious for bad handwriting? Talk about it.
- Have you ever had any issues because of the doctor’s illegible handwriting on any of your prescriptions? Share about this instance.